[Outlook and problems of microbiological sampling in public catering establishments in light of the new European regulations].
Modern society is structured in such a way that more food is eaten outside the home and therefore the hygienic standards of food production and organoleptic characteristics of foods provided by catering establishments is of increasing importance. In order to obtain a complete view of the hygienic standards of the food production cycle, however, it is not sufficient to show that pathogenic microroganisms are absent, but it is also useful to measure the number of microroganisms which do not constitute a hazard to health but whose presence may alter the quality of food products or be an index of inadequate hygienic practices. Microbiological testing plays a fundamental role in the evaluation of the quality of a food product and according to the Codex Alimentarius, limits should be set based on absolute criteria, according to legislation requirements or on relative criteria based on contamination trends over time within the production process The new European food hygiene regulations CE 852/04 e 2073/05 promote a more advanced and correct view of microbiological controls, with respect to pre-existing national legislation, placing emphasis also on the production process of foodstuffs and not only on the final product. In addition, controls are explicitly considered as a tool to verify that food business operators comply with hygiene requirements. The aim of evaluating microbiological data should be to assess trends in the various analytical parameters and search for possible contamination indicators, in order to perform a thorough analysis based on inspections that evaluate the efficacy of food safety procedures put in place by food business operators, with sampling aimed at verifying quick simple and low cost index parameters Regarding the interpretation of collected data it should be underscored that the presence of a large variability points to presence of inadequate hygiene procedures, considering that the main obligation of each food business operator is to put in place, implement and maintain procedures based on the HACCP principles.
Amadei
Paolo
P
ASL Roma A.
Biondi
Augusto
A
Tarsitani
Gianfranco
G
Antonini
Alessandra
A
D005060:Europe; D005516:Food Microbiology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards*; D005522:Food Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic